Tara Brach - Meditation: Letting Life Live through You (2016-05-18)

Episode Date: May 19, 2016

Meditation: Letting Life Live through You (2016-05-18) - This meditation awakens the senses and then guides us into the wakeful openness that includes the whole play of sensations, feelings and sound. We become fully awake and alive as we open to the awareness that allows life to live through us. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara  

The following meditation is led by Tara Brock. To access more of my meditations or join my email list, please visit tarabrock.com. Letting your awareness scan through your body, you might sense if there's any part of you that wants to relax or let go a little more right now. And then scanning down in a more systematic way, you might begin with the area of the eyes and the brow,

softening, letting a smile spread through the eyes, lifting the corners of the eyes, the outside corners, let the brow be smooth, a slight smile at the mouth. You might sense the inside of the mouth smiling, the jaw unhinged, letting the tongue spread into the lower jaw, relaxing at the root of the tongue. and see if you can be receptive to the sensations that fill the mouth, the tongue, the gums, teeth, the lips, letting the shoulders fall away from the neck and feeling the shoulders from the inside out. See if you can notice the sensations that move through the shoulders, softening, letting there be a little dissolving or letting go there.

similar way, letting the hands be very soft, resting in a very easy way, effortless. And feel inside the hands. See if you can notice the movement of sensation, perhaps tingling or vibrating, pulsing. You might sense an openness at the chest and then bringing the awareness inside the chest, feeling the heart from the inside out, might help to visualize and sense of smile spreading through the heart and chest, not to cover over but to make room for exactly what's here. See again if you can feel the movement of sensation, maybe sense the space that it's moving in, loosening and softening in the belly. Again the image

and felt sense of a smile spreading through the naval area, feeling the awareness from the inside out, just filling the whole region of the belly. And again, receptive to the sensations, the movement of sensations, you'll find that you have to keep softening in the belly to feel the aliveness that's there. Continuing to scan down, you might sense that same image and curve of a smile, the felt sense of a smile filling the pelvic region. Let the awareness fill that area so you can feel the aliveness. of sensation that's there, relaxed and receptive,

the length and the volume of the legs, and feeling the feet from the inside out, feeling the sensations, the movement of sensations in the feet. You might imagine the earth with all the energy that's below and around you, just flowing through your feet into your body, your body a part of the earth, filled with the aliveness of sensation, just opening into this field of sensation, tingling, vibrating, squeezing, tightness, flow, heat, cool, perhaps pleasant, unpleasant, just letting everything happen, including in this field of aliveness,

the coming and going of sound, listening to and feeling the whole moment, aware of this changing dance of sound and feelings and sensations and aware of the space that it's all happening in, a space that includes even the most distant sounds, just relaxing back into this openness and wakefulness, this space of awareness that perceives the changing dance of sensations, sounds, moment to moment letting this life live through you. It's the habit of mind to contract from open awareness into thought forms. It's also a growing capacity to notice when we've left home and in that noticing to pause and relax back again.

If you notice there's been a drifting into thoughts, just let that be an opportunity to practice homecoming. Notice the thinking and then gently relax back, listening to the sounds that are here, relaxing and feeling the aliveness and sensations of the body. Again, listening to and feeling this changing moment to moment river of aliveness. And sensing this space it's all happening in, resting as that open awakeness that perceives this changing life, letting life live through you. When you notice the trance of thinking, the key that seeds what comes next is the attitude

that you meet that with. It's just awaken from thoughts and pause and bring a very joy gentle, interested, kind attention, not to judge in any way. It's a relaxing back. Again, aware of the sounds that are right here. Gently scanning in the body you might sense if there's any part of the body that wants to let go a little right now, relax a bit. Noticing the difference between being right here and the senses and any thought or idea,

any planning or remembering right here, listening to and feeling the changing experience, saying yes to the moment to moment, sensations, feelings, letting life live through you. We close by bringing an intimate presence to the area of the heart, sensing how open, wakeful awareness is perceiving and listening to the heart right. now and as you sense this heart space offering whatever prayer or blessing to your own being most resonates and then widening the attention to sense all beings as part of and belonging to this heart space and again offering your wishes your prayers for all beings. Namaste.